'There are people in jail in America for the same stuff. Shouldn’t we free them too? ' Elon Musk hammers Biden over Brittney Griner
Griner was found guilty and sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison for smuggling drugs into the country. Russian prosecutors argued that Griner, who was convicted of deliberately smuggling marijuana vaping materials, should serve nine-and-a-half years in prison.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk savaged President Joe Biden’s efforts to free WNBA player Brittney Griner from Russia, while countless Americans continue to languish in federal prisons over similar offences.
Griner was found guilty and sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison for smuggling drugs into the country. Russian prosecutors argued that Griner, who was convicted of deliberately smuggling marijuana vaping materials, should serve nine-and-a-half years in prison.
Speaking to the Full Send podcast late last week, the Tesla CEO asked, “If the president is working so hard to free someone who is in jail in Russia for some weed, shouldn’t we free people in America?”
“There are people in jail in America for the same stuff. Shouldn’t we free them too? My opinion is that people should not be in jail for non-violent drug crimes,” he added.
As reported by Rebel News, Biden said on Friday that his administration was “working hard” to get Griner home.
His administration has reportedly considered the possibility of swapping Griner with Viktor Grout, the so-called “Merchant of Death,” a notorious arms dealer whose life was the inspiration for the Nicolas Cage movie “Lord of War.”
According to the ACLU, the United States conducted nearly 700,000 marijuana-related arrests in 2018 – the last year that any data relating to drug-related arrests is available. As detailed by the New York Post, the figure represents 43.2% of all drug arrests and makes up a larger number than any other drug, and more than all violent crimes combined.
Musk, who is not a marijuana user, says that the drug is “not that good for productivity.”
Musk was forced to take a federally mandated drug test for an entire year alongside other employees at SpaceX after he made an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast and smoked weed with the host.
Speaking to the Full Send podcast, Musk said that he needed to prove to the federal government that he was not a drug addict after filming the interview in California, where the drug was and remains legal.
“I did get a lot of backlash because it’s still federally illegal,” he said. “SpaceX has federal government contracts, so our competitors were like ‘Why aren’t you doing anything? Look at him brazenly smoking weed on Joe Rogan’s podcast.”
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